Dr Edmond Bordeaux
Szekely concluded a lifetime of research into the benefits of eating raw
live foods with a summary of his findings in The Chemistry of Youth, 1977.
He identified 4 different groups of foods:

Bioacidic:
processed foods with chemicals, preservatives, irradiation and GM. These
are dead and only serve to degrade human life.

Biostatic:
although less harmful than bioacidic foods, these do little for the organism
and include cooked foods or foods that are simply not fresh. They retard
biochemical functions and accelerate ageing.

Bioactive:
these include fresh raw fruit, vegetables, seeds, beans, legumes and nuts.
They will sustain health.

Biogenic:
these are the most life-enhancing, high energy, super foods. They are
alkaline, complete proteins, high in minerals, vitamins, RNA, DNA and
highest in active enzymes. They will revitalize, strengthen and regenerate
the human body. This category consists of all sprouts.

WHAT ARE SPROUTS?

These are legumes,
grains, nuts or seeds that have been soaked then germinated (usually without
sun or soil) into baby plants. Millet and quinoa have the most therapeutic
benefits being extremely alkalizing, but here is a longer list of some
commonly sprouted foods:

Each seed has
its own nutritional force to create a full grown plant and once it is
soaked in water, significant changes occur:

Dormant enzymes
are released. These not only allow the plant to grow but later enable
the sprout to be digested by humans.

The germination
process represents huge life energy. This explains why sprouts are even
more nutritious than other raw foods – they are still in the process
of growing at the peak of their life force.

The endosperm
and cotyledons (two inside halves) are the food supply of the plant and
are loaded with enzymes, vitamins, minerals, amino acids, proteins, essential
fatty acids – these all increase dramatically during the sprouting
process.

The germination
process pre-digests the seed, making its nutrients fully available for
digestion and assimilation. The huge increase in enzymes converts starch
into simple sugars, protein into amino acids, fats into essential fatty
acids. This may explain why beans that ordinarily can cause sensitivities
generally don’t do so when sprouted. The end result is a super food
with enormous levels of protein, vitamins, minerals, trace minerals, chlorophyll
and enzymes, multiplied from 300 to 1,000 per cent in the most easily
digestible form (cf. Steve Meyerwitz: Sprouts, The miracle food).

All the minerals
including much needed selenium, magnesium, calcium, potassium, and the
trace minerals chromium, copper, iron zinc and manganese. They are in
fact the best source of trace minerals next to the sea vegetables kelp,
dulse and nori. Also, they contain bioflavanoids and chlorophyll which
are important phytonutrients.

RNA and DNA (nucleic
acids), found only in living cells and the fundamental needs for cell
growth and regeneration. They were found to increase by up to 30 times
when sprouting seeds.

Sprouting eliminates
not only the enzyme inhibitors, but also such undesirable elements as
phosphates at the same time increasing the level of needed elements like
phosphorous, lecithin etc which help assimilate fatty acids and aid fat
metabolism, cholesterol and hormone regulation.

Proteins –
the protein content increases by 15-30 % when sprouted. They are a much
more efficient, healthy and cheap form of protein than those from animals.

THE ENZYME CONNECTION:

To enhance health
we must eat as many foods as we can with living enzymes. Sprouts are the
ideal food for this. Enzyme activity is at its peak when germinating the
seeds. If we have insufficient enzymes in our diet, the food will move
slowly through the digestive tract and can even rot and ferment in the
intestines. The end results are toxins that circulate in the body from
the colon and from there into the bloodstream. These are seen as foreign
invaders by the immune system and the body expends a lot of energy in
removing them. This leads to exhaustion, chronic fatigue and weak immunity.
When we eat a lot of high enzyme foods, we begin to feel a huge change
in our vitality as food no longer lies around undigested in the intestines
and is instead used to its full life-enhancing potential.

OTHER BENEFITS:

Sprouts
are full of fiber – this is essential for the smooth flow of nutrients
through the digestive tract.

Sprouts will
aid the breakdown and removal of mucous and fats from the body. That’s
why if you need to lose weight, eating sprouts can be a great help.

Sprouts will
relieve acidosis (when the body is too acidic) due to their alkaline properties.
Symptoms of acidosis include stomach ulcers, insomnia, headaches, gas,
bloating, foul-smelling stools, water retention, arthritis and other more
serious health problems like cancer and heart disease. An acid body also
means there are excess hydrogen ions which combine with oxygen to form
water, This depletes the body’s oxygen. A shortage of oxygen causes
cells to break down and die, creating an unhealthy acid/alkaline balance.
It can also cause calcium to be taken out of the bones through urine,
creating a fertile ground for osteoporosis. Excess acid can also get deposited
in the cell tissues, eventually causing arthritis. Live sprouts will mop
up acids – millet and quinoa have a particularly strong effect,
being extremely alkalising.

HOW TO SPROUT:

No matter how
you are going to sprout your seeds, you’ll first need to soak them
for a period of time (the bigger the seed, generally the longer it’ll
need – see the chart included with this handout for soaking times).

After soaking,
my favorite two methods for sprouting the seeds are bag and basket. Two
other options are the jar (personally, I have found that this can be a
little cumbersome, not so practical for rinsing and above all, the sprouts
can easily begin to go moldy or rotten in a jar if the water doesn’t
properly drain off), or the professionally made sprouting kit. These vary.
They do allow you to grow several different sprouts at one time in a small
space, however the home-made versions described below work equally well
and are cheaper.

The bag –
you can sew this up yourself from netting with a drawstring which you
can hang it from. Make sure the holes are not too big so that your sprouts
don’t fall through! You can hang your bag from a hook by the sink.

The basket –
you can use a colander for this – the larger the surface area the
better so that you can spread the sprouts out well. It’s best to
cover your sprouts with a loose plastic cover. It needs to be thick enough
(ideally 4 ml) so it stands up erect. You’re essentially creating
a tent around your sprouts under which air can circulate. The tent can
stand around 25 cm high. Elevate your basket a little so there is air
circulating all around.

No matter whether
bag or basket, remember that you’ll need to calculate for the fact
that your crop will triple to quadruple in size when sprouted –
so leave enough room for this in the bag / basket!

You’ll
need to rinse your seeds well, 2 or 3 times a day.

Harvesting will
be in anything between 24 and 72 hours. Don’t let them go for too
long – they’ll become bitter. When ready, you can store them
for a few days in the fridge in a Tupperware container.

Some sprouts
like mung beans or lentils will be easier on the digestion if you remove
the sprouted hulls before eating. You can do this by immersing them in
a bowl of warm water. The hulls should rise to the top.

Dr
Gillian McKeith’s Sacred 12 And whilst we’re talking about
living foods! Would you like to know what Dr Gillian McKeith (Britain’s
Food Guru, according to the Sunday Times) considers to be the 12 healthiest
living foods, so that you too can shine from their regenerative, energizing
properties…?

Try incorporating these and more sprouts into your diet and feel the difference!
If you want to know more about these live foods or about sprouting, details
of Gillian McKeith’s book and a few others are given below: